Nethercutt Catches Up On The Region Congressman Makes Swing Through Area

Making a spring swing through his Eastern Washington district, Rep. George Nethercutt is never far from constituents who want his ear on important issues.

Will he sign on to a bill that would help credit unions in their ongoing battle with commercial banks? executives from Spokane-area credit unions ask Wednesday over breakfast.

What will Congress do to help small communities facing an influx in welfare recipients? Lincoln County officials wonder over coffee.

Would he sponsor a law to legalize growing hemp? four seniors from North Central High School ask after lunch.

“I think that’s one we’ll put in the category of study,” Nethercutt said after hearing the students’ presentation on the merits of hemp production, a research project for their college-prep English course. “But I want to read their report.”

By late afternoon, Nethercutt has a fistful of papers that have been handed to him at different meetings.

Among them is a synopsis of HR 1151, which would allow credit unions to expand their membership to “select employee groups” - customers at businesses beyond their original base. The credit unions and commercial banks are currently fighting over such expansion in a lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The credit union executives argued federal rules are already tilted heavily in favor of the banks, and the bill would only put into law something that has been common practice for more than a decade.

“I’m a little reluctant to pre-empt a lawsuit,” Nethercutt said, declining to commit that morning to becoming a co-sponsor of the bill.

The court won’t hear the case until the fall, which means a decision is unlikely before early next year. In the meantime, he promised to study the bill and talk with its sponsor, Republican Steve LaTourette of Ohio, about whether the bill has a chance to pass and be signed by President Clinton.

In Davenport, some two dozen wheat farmers were worried about the Conservation Reserve Program, and its complicated formula for determining how much farmers will be paid for taking their land out of production.

Land that is subject to wind erosion is not valued as highly as land subject to water erosion in the government’s formula, farmers complained.

Nethercutt agreed, and said he has raised that issue with Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

“There’s some uniqueness to our region,” Nethercutt said, noting that Spokane faces government sanctions for dirty air that is due partly to dust blown in from surrounding farms. “We’re not getting the consideration for the air quality (benefits) we should.”

Saying he wasn’t “here to bash” the Clinton administration, he nonetheless criticized plans to cut agricultural research to increase funding for children’s nutrition programs. Congress may not agree when the Agriculture Department’s budget is reviewed in the coming weeks, he said.

After touring the newly restored Lincoln County courthouse - “Nice digs,” he told county officials who came out to greet him - Nethercutt fielded concerns from Prosecutor Ron Shepard over new rules on welfare.

Last year Congress gave states broad authority to reform welfare programs, with the aim of getting more people off assistance and into jobs. Washington state is proposing small counties like Lincoln be given exemptions from rules that cut off benefits after a certain time period.

Recipients in larger counties like Spokane will face time limits, which could cause people to move to continue getting welfare. “We expect an influx of welfare recipients,” Shepard said.

Have they talked to Gov. Gary Locke about their concerns? Nethercutt asked.

“No, the exemption is driven by federal regulations,” Shepard said.

Congress didn’t anticipate such problems when it reformed welfare last year, Nethercutt said. It worked under the assumption that the states would know how to improve the system better than the federal government.

“I may have to talk to Gov. Locke and say ‘Wait a minute, do you know what’s going to happen to these small communities?”’ he said. After getting a list of concerns over water quality in the Columbia Basin and federal control over Lake Roosevelt from county commissioners, Nethercutt traveled back to Spokane for a visit to his high school alma mater.

North Central teacher Dennie Crowe asked him to hear presentations of two groups of students who had spent nine weeks preparing reports on subjects they felt passionate about.

Four students lobbied for a change in the national law that equates marijuana with its less intoxicating cousin, hemp. According to the students, legalizing hemp would solve problems ranging from deforestation to oil depletion.

Nethercutt wondered how law enforcement agents would be able to tell the difference between hemp and marijuana when it was growing in the fields. They could do random checks: Marijuana has flower buds, hemp doesn’t, the students said.

The other group made a pitch for reducing the amenities in the nation’s prisons, housing nonviolent criminals in less costly surroundings and putting prisoners to work on such things as road repair.

The students worked so hard they deserve an A, Nethercutt told Crowe.

“You have to give it to us now,” student Jared Starr told his teacher. “The congressman said so.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo